Patients with leukemia and other blood diseases who receive bone marrow transplants rich in stem cells, often saving their lives, may be more likely to develop cancer years later, a study says.

Canadian scientists say hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients face a significant long-term risk of developing a second cancer. Researchers followed the progress of over 900 patients who received the transplants and found they had nearly twice (2.3 % to be exact) the risk of developing cancer in the next 10 years. And that risk says Drs. Genevieve Gallagher and Donna Forrest of the University of British Columbia is greater if the recipients were older at the time of transplant or received stem cells especially from a female donor.

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